If your body and mind become one, will you be able to avoid death?
If you gather your Qi to reach flexibility, will you become like new-born child?

Dao De Jing, sec. X

(Own interpretation according to the He Shang Gong version)

Qigong, anybody?

"

Nothing!" said Lina Rask ( Denmark ) when asked what she felt while
or after practicing Qigong an hour once a week for 2 month in the YMCA, "only warmer
than before, but that's normal when doing exercises." She was one of the 5 students
of the Normal University's Mandarin Training Center, who took that course, either because
they considered Qigong as interesting, since part of Chinese Culture and good chance to
learn something about it as Laura Burian, an American student noted or for being part of
martial arts or just because it seemed to be a relaxing way of exercise, without of muscle
strains or harming tendons.

Preston Lee, an Overseas Chinese from England who also studies martial arts says: The
West doesn't have something like that. It needs good people to teach it and a lot of
practice. A person with no experience will have problems when coming to Taiwan an trying
to find a good teacher, since it is too popular. Almost in every park there are people
practicing "Wu Tan Qi-Kong."

Laura L., an American student found its effects calming and providing the means to
better concentration and a more centered feeling, but thinks also that one hours a week
was not enough. Missing landmarks to observe on oneself and maybe some difficulties caused
by the different language (the class was taught in Chinese) made it also difficult.

As for effects: all felt warmer, two - who trained sometimes at home - felt something
else, maybe Qi, maybe it was only imagination, who knows? But they all agreed that it
would be good to make it more known in the West, as alternative to yoga, a health exercise
for older people or just to let people know more about it, since it is sometimes simply a
fad of the nineties.

Breathing away cancer?

Whilst the western students take their first, uncertain steps on this wondrous market
of Qi trade, in the mainland Qigong is already an institution. There are Qigong groups in
almost every little hamlet, not to speak of big research studies provided by the
government like in the Beijing Qigong research institute.

Recently the Hong Kong magazine Windows published an article about the Guo Lin
Qigong system which so far has succeeded to cure (sic!) several patients from cancer.

This system combining still meditation with motion claims its effects on cancer cells
by the surplus of oxygen provided to the body coming with the breathing, since it is known
that a sour (pH < 7) environment (with a higher carbon dioxide level) is an ideal
milieu for the growth of cancer cells, whereas an alkalic (pH > 7) environment (with a
higher oxygen level) is harmful to cancer cells.

If this formula can be transferred to the simple motto: more breath = less cancer,
remains to be proofed by science yet. Until then, such news remains merely propaganda. To
gain more insight into the mysteries of Qi, a step closer to "enlightenment"
surly will be a chat with people who had some of those "close encounters."

I could feel it!

John Chuang, is a tea-merchant from Taiwan and old friend to the author. He was
slightly but chronically ill for years and got all the time worse. He went to many
hospitals and saw Western and Chinese doctors, whose prescriptions sometimes helped and
sometimes worsened the disease. In western diagnosis no clear evidence was found, why the
patient felt unwell.

Things went bad when Mr. Chuang after an infectious gastritis could not take any
medicine neither herbal nor pharmaceutical, since his stomach revolted. He saw an
acupuncturist for a few months who improved is condition slightly, but finally it went so
bad, that he was even to weak for acupuncture, since he seriously lacked of normal
nutrition. "No medicine can help me anymore, I am going to die" he told me.
"If you help yourself, heaven will help you, too" (or something like that) the
Chinese proverb says. Since I suspected a strong psychosomatic influence, I recommended to
find someone to teach him meditation or Qigong both of which couldn't hurt.

He did both and when I met him (a few month later ) again, he felt great, ate
everything and was a fan of Qi-gong practice and meditation which he really had done one
hour daily. I was impressed. Was it a placebo-effect, that worked since he believed it? Or
would it work on a skeptical Westerner, too?

I asked Jefferson Applegate, an American scholar, who learned Tai-Chi Chuan in Taiwan
and was recommended to do Qigong as well. He first tried it a little here and there, just
like my approach. But then he was told that any of those things should be done
regularly for at least 100 days if one wants to feel an effect at all. So he practiced
daily for 30-40 minutes YIN-palm Shaolin style Qi-gong and really, after about 90 days he
felt a strange kind of heat on his palms and soles, which he after a few days more could
even control and move it into other directions.

"If you are looking for Qi-effects you must be very patient," he said
"it's like in the old Zen-Story where the eager student asks his master how long it
will take, until he will be a superior martial artist. <Three years, maybe.> <
But what if I practice day and night, spare no effort, pledge myself with all willpower to
the exercises and make the perfection my only goal in life? > the impatient disciple
inquires. <How long then?> <Six years, maybe> the Master responds..."

Kourosh.D. Hamedani, a friend and businessman from Holland who gave up his business in
order to study deeper a level in China was looking for such a real master. He had studied
Tai Chi Chuan for many years and took pride in being able to "feel the Qi". When
he after a long struggle finally succeeded to be accepted by one of those old, experienced
Tai Chi Masters, who are not in it for the money, and hence don't accept
more students than the few they have, he was asked if he could focus his Qi in the Tan
Tien (a point 1,5 Chinese inches below the navel) he proudly responded "sure!"

"Let's see!" smiled the old man and tipped him slightly on the shoulder,
which after the surprised Tai Chi disciple began uncontrollably to bounce up an down like
a ball. "Your Qi is not sunk into the center (Tan Tien) at all, otherwise you would
remain unmoved. Instead it made your body jump. You've been cheating yourself all those
years. What you believed to feel was only your own imagination." said the Master to
the new student "Now, I still ask him to test me from time to time. I'm still
bouncing, but I improve." says Kourosh. Now that I really felt an effect of my own
Qi, I just wonder how many other disciples of the Chinese arts in the West merely imagine
to feel their Qi..."

Drawn from the conclusion that there actually are some people who have
experienced Qi, the next, most difficult step has to be finding those who work with it.

Marveling at the masters or mastering the marvelous?

"It is not longer than 10 maybe 15 years ago, that Qigong in Taiwan was still
known under its old name Tao-Yin (Guiding the Tao) and just practiced by a few insiders,
who sometimes were considered rather spleeny back then." remembers a Chinese friend.
"Then suddenly the Qigong craze swept over from the mainland of China and nowadays
Qigong "masters" and their studios can be found almost on every street corner.
How to separate the chaff from the wheat ? For an outsider, it is absolutely
impossible."

An outsider, with a few connections, though, the author took a Qigong class in the
YMCA, called a few addresses recommended by friends and paid calls to the people of the
various ads in Chinese newspapers. Finding a needle in a haystack became my favored
pastime for a while.

Did I get any convincing results in my quest for the Qi ? Mind you, I felt a little
like the eager disciple in the Zen-Story. But at least I was lucky, or was it the often
quoted Chinese "Yuan-fen" (destiny) that helped me on my way ?

The first interesting master I met was Michael Chung, born in Hong Kong, learning
Qigong and Chinese Medicine first handed down by his family tradition, than from various
masters in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Here he has a studio, which is always full with eager
students. Among them also many Western students who come for health and to learn Martial
Arts, Qigong or Feng Shui (Geomancy) and other exotic treasures of the East.

He has some Hi-Tech equipment to measure the Acupuncture meridians and an impressive
album with photographs of former patients cured by him. His approach to Qi is rather
leaning towards the spiritual side. He is a very quiet, relaxed person and has recently
been to Switzerland and Germany, where he, on invitation of the National Science Council
and Physicist Dr.Imke also demonstrated effects of Qi in the University of Heidelberg.

He explains Qi as an energy and is sure that it can be confirmed scientifically and
combined both, with Western clinical and traditional Chinese Medicine. "In Qigong
body and mind work together to establish good health by stabilizing all body systems and a
stable mood, relaxation and higher awareness of body and mind." he says.

In the more than two hour interview he gave me, he answered among others also the
following questions:

Q: At present there many in Taiwan teaching Qigong. How can an outsider distinguish
a good teacher from a bad one ?

A: First, if the master uses his power instead of teaching the student how to mobilize
his own, there is nothing a student can learn from him. Second, Qi is slowly and gradually
achieved; if a master makes promises to student that he will be able to benefit very fast,
he also should not be trusted. Actually, if the stronger methods of the higher levels are
thought too early, they can even harm the student, causing psychic problems. A good and
healthy body is the fundament to achieve a higher self-control.

Some teachers put religious aspects in the foreground or take an absolutely esoteric or
purely scientific approach, but they can teach their students only a part of the whole,
since Qi has many more aspects.

Q: There are some shows in China in which people use Qigong to break stones,
penetrate solid obstacles and show other "supernatural" powers, to demonstrate
Qi. What do you think about these ?

A: I've seen a few of those shows. Real Qi is not so obvious to be able impressing
crowds of people, which is what those shows are made for. I for example have been able to
move objects only a few inches in some experiments. So even those outstanding talents in
the P.R.C. are often using tricks to exaggerate. Those who used real Qi at all, looked
very exhausted afterwards. The ancient Taoists recomended to use Qi on the outside only if
absolutely necessary, but instead to use it inside the body for preserving health and a
long life. Whereas those people in the shows will harm themselves if they waste their Qi.

Q: You have learned Qigong, Chinese Medicine, including acupuncture, furthermore Tai
Chi Chuan and Feng Shui, as well as some other arts belonging to the spiritual area.

From my own experience I know how long it takes only to master one of them. So how did
you manage to master so many difficult tasks?

A: Since they all are based on the same principle it is not so difficult, once you
understand this principle.

Q: Which is ?

A: Qi !

Not much later, I heard an unbelievable rumor from an acquaintance studying physics in
the NTU, Taiwan's best reputed University. "They are doing research on Qi, sponsored
by the government. And among the bunch of Taoists, Buddhist monks, Tai Chi and Qigong
masters participating, there is one among them who recently succeeded to kill infectious
micro-organisms in petri-dishes from a distance of one meter, just by using his
Qi."

I met the modest, but outgoing master for an interview and was impressed by his
down-to-earth modern view, his openness and humorous personality. "Yes," he
said, "he is often sought to participate in scientific experiments concerning with
Qi, sometimes by the Yang Ming or the Veterans General hospital, sometimes by different
universities and sometimes even by Taiwan's highest scientific institution the Acadmica
Sinica."

What - according to him - is Qigong? Simple: adding work (gong) to the Qi, or working
with Qi. The latter one can be divided in inherited Qi, found in the human body and
acquired Qi, found in nature and absorbed with the breath.

He came to study Qigong after his late childhood, when was obsessed to study the
"hard" martial arts. One day, showing off with his skills by inviting all kids
around to beat and kick him, while he suffered no injuries, an old man walked by and told
him that he seemed to have developed the "outer" or "hard" martial
arts to a considerably good level, and that if he would continue this way, he would
certainly surpass Bruce Lee. "I thought he was praising me," Lee Feng Shan said
laughingly "but then he added: <Since you will die even younger than he did, if
you learn only the "outer" practice without of strengthening your health by
"inner" practice.> I realized that he was a master and immediately asked him
to teach me "inner" practice. He became my teacher."

Here also some excerpts from the interview:

Q: Which benefits will a person experience, when practicing Qigong?

A: He will be able to battle most diseases, prolong his life span, get a stronger body
and a clearer mind with keener senses.

Q: How long will it take until one feels the effects of Qi in ones own body?

A: Differing individually and according to the length of daily practice a person will
definitely feel the effects the earliest after three days and at most after three month.

Q: In some Qigong demonstrations by so-called masters, some people will be trembling
or shaking after being touched or other "miraculous" healing effects will be
seen. What is your opinion about those events?

A: Very often cheating is involved. A serious master would never show-off with his
skills to attract more students or make more money. Qigong, like other popular sports or
techniques is also liable to cheats.

Q:What are the shortcomings of continuous practice of Qigong or are there none?

A: There are. Although a person will certainly succeed in achieving some extraordinary
skills, if he practices for years, the danger is, if he has the wrong attitude, he is
likely to abuse these skills and harm other people for selfish reasons. There are some
surprising effects in the practice of Qi of which I don't want to speak about, since you
certainly would not believe me. If you want to find out more about it, there is only one
way: practice it yourself!

So what on earth is Qi ?

Pneuma, Bioenergy, Breath, Constellating Energy, Vital Influence and a dozen other
translations were applied to the mysterious term Qi (pinyin) or Ch'i (Wade-Giles).
Finally, after realizing that these concepts were only determining a part of the meaning,
the translators surrendered. Nowadays the sound of the word Qi is merely transliterated
and the meaning explained somewhere else, usually in a long, long footnote like this:

"Qi - No satisfactory definition of Qi to be found in any Chinese text. While
classical texts take the existence for granted, modern literature from mainland China
explains it as being a "substance." It appears in terms as: the "six
Qi" (environmental influences); "correct Qi," original Qi,"
"ancestral Qi," (...) "damp Qi," " pestilential Qi,"
"water Qi," (...) "turbid Qi" and the "four Qi." Qi denotes
a vast variety of phenomena. (...) Qi, ultimately, can be defined as neither matter nor
energy; it is their dynamic, seen in substantive (but not necessarily substantial) form.
(...) (...) (...)

This, a very good and well researched definition gives the average western reader at
least an idea about what Qi is not and what concept is behind it. But could we thence say:
"Qi" is just an idea ?

Historically the term "Qi " appeared for the first time in medical texts
about two or three centuries B.C., meaning outer influences, existing for example in terms
like xie-qi (evil influences) as a reason for diseases, opposed to xie-gui (evil demons)
which was a relict of the older demonological therapy. Since then the meaning of Qi has
been undergone many changes, resulting from different concepts and theories in medicine,
philosophy and science.

But finally, a little more than 15 years ago Chinese scientists on both sides of the
Taiwan straits, as well as in Hong Kong began to apply western methods, trying to solve
the mystery: How far did they get ?

Puzzles solved?

Hong Kong

Dr. James Ma, teaching Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (N.M.R.) in the Institute of
Science and Technology in The Chinese University of Hong Kong researched Qi after he
found out by accident that the feeling caused by practicing Qigong, Acupuncture or Tai-Chi
Chuan can be felt only seconds after practicing when people stand in front of a
super-conducting magnet, operated at -270º C with a magnetic strength of 58000 gauss (
Hundred thousand times stronger than the magnetic field of the earth ).

He also once observed that elephants ( the most long-living animal of the tropical
zones ) while idle are swinging their trunks in a frequency of 0,5 cycles per second (=
Hz), which is the same speed with which mothers swing a crying baby's bed to calm it. He
began to analyze the frequency of certain movements and found that gifted people with
outstanding achievements in music, art, religion etc. have all one thing in common: The
habit of rhythmical movements by swimming, dancing or sports within a range of 0.5 - 1 Hz
(cycles per second).

Then he watched people in China doing Tai-Chi Chuan and Qigong and it was all in the
range of 0.1 - 0.7 Hz.

Now knowing from his profession that Magnetic Resonance is the sudden change of
atom's magnetic orientation and thus by absorption of energy raising to a high energy
level can only occur when the frequency ( Here: of the body) is the same as the frequency
of the metallic atoms swinging, he measured the magnetic field strength of metallic
elements in the body and found a very weak magnetic field of 0.00005 gauss which requires
exactly a low frequency of 0.3 Hz to achieve biomagnetic resonance. Was that the
missing clue ? Maybe.

But as a true scientist he draws no early conclusions, since he knows that the feeling
of Qi a subjective personal experience, not measurable in any double-blind tests.
Nevertheless applying the theory of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance would explain many
phenomena connected with Qi.

Taiwan

A different approach is found in variousexperimentsof Professor Li
Si-Chen of the Department of Electrical Engineering in the National Taiwan University.
He continuously applies different Tests on Qi. Among his testees are also Master Lee Feng
Shan and Master Michael G.C. Chung (see above).

The first of the tests we want to quote here is based on measuring a
-brain waves (Mann-Whitney Test) and the pressure wave of 8-11 Hz occurring when a Qigong
Master practices Qi.

He applied different methods causing this oscillation via sense organs (flashing
lights, rhythmic sounds, vibrations) and fast thinking waves (fast neuron firing). He
found that all methods increase the "feeling of Qi" after only 3 minutes on
persons who learned any Qi-practice before, whereas for untrained persons the latter
method was more effective. 50% of those tested could sense a concentration of Qi in the
point called "Tan Tien" or Qi-Hai", 1,5 Cun (physiologic inches) below the
navel called "Tan Tien" or Qi-Hai", 1,5 Cun (physiologic inches) below the
navel.

Those persons practicing different Qi-connected methods (Zen and other meditations,
Qigong, Tai Chi Chuan etc.) were found to reduce the peak power of their a -brain waves significantly ( p < 0.05 ) during a meditative
suppression state and enhanced ( p < 0.001 ) when practicing Qigong, then also causing
a resonance between body tissue near the aforementioned Tan Tien point and the oscillating
current of the brain. He named the different states Ruh-Ding (suppression) and Gong-zheng
(resonance) state.

However the feeling of Qi remains a subjective experience, like headache: most real to
the patient, but not measurable by medical instruments. So Professor Li tried to figure
out the effect of Qi on living cells and organisms in vitro:

picture

In another experiment they found that the infrared spectra of external Qi, generated by
a Qigong master from his palm, measured with a III-V compound semiconductor LnSb detector
could be also divided in two kinds of Qi: Facilitating and inhibiting Qi causing a heating
or cooling of the air in front of the palms. This may be explained as increased or
decreased blood flow by dilating or constricting blood vessels in the hand through
sympathetic or parasympathetic nerves, controlled by the Qigong master.

The biochemical effects on those waves on human fibroblast cells FS-4 and boar sperms
were investigated.

These results proof that there are effects of Qi on living cells. They may be
harmful as described in the martial arts or healthy as in the Qigong exercises. Professor
Li proposes a kind of yet undetectable forms of bioenergy being responsible for those
effects. Which energy and how it works remains to be researched, so far.

He continues to look for possible connections between the phenomenon Qi and ESP
(extra-sensorial perception), or its ability to kill microbes or other ways to lay hands
on this difficult research field.

PR. China

The third Chinese scientist, on the way to discover what is behind the meaning of
"Qi" is Dr. Zhu Zong-Xiang from the Acupuncture and Meridian Research Institute
Peking.

Approaching as an orthodox western scientist he began more than 20 years ago, he
completely doubted the existence of the "Channels of Qi" (meridians) as referred
to in the classical scripts of Chinese Medicine. Knowing nothing about Chinese Medicine he
was skeptic about all its mysterious statements and he began instead measuring flows of
low electric resistance in the body, high oscillation sounds and high skin sensitivity.

After years of research he found a network of channels running through the body. When
he told his findings to a TCM (Trad.Chin.Med.) Doctor, and the physician took out a
so-called "Copper Man," the little model on which meridians traditionally are
mapped to compare the lines. They matched 100% the electro-sonic network Dr. Zhu had found
on the human body!

The existence of acupuncture points, measured by electric resistance was already
evident, now the meridians were proofed existing, too. Dr. Zhu turned from Saulus to
Paulus and became convinced that the theories of the old classics were right. His next
step, his says, is to analyze the "thing" that flows in those channels- Qi!

He expects a result within a few years, a result that would force medical scientists of
the whole world to accept another system in the human body:

"After the discovery of the blood system, the gland system and the nerve system
there might be one day in the near future another one to be found in the books of
physiology - the Qi-system."

Meanwhile those few western scientists who are not too arrogant to participate in the
scientific quest of the Qi will also continue in their research, usually not taken
seriously and hence with a budget close to zero. For this reason it is more than likely
that a Chinese scientist earlier or later will have the honor of discovering the functions
and physiology of Qi. And why not ? Eventually Qi has been a domain for Chinese research
for more than 4000 years...

Bibliography:

East-West Medical Newsletter (Dong Xi Yi Shun) No.1, Aug. 30 1989

Granet: Le pensée chinoise

Granet: Le Taoisme et les religions chinoises

Li, Erh: Daodejing, He Shang Gong Scripts, a little more than 2000 years ago

Li, Feng-Shan: Yi Qi Liu Xing (The circle of eternal Qi ) English version translated by
the author

Li, Si-Chen:

1. The two Qigong states Characterized by Brain a -Wave,
Journal of Chinese Medicine, Vol.2, No.1, pp. 30-46, Oct. 1991, published by China Medical
college and the National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Taiwan R.O.C.

2. The Generation of "Qi" by Stimulation Methods, Bulletin of the College of
engineering, NTU, Taipei, Taiwan. Nr. 46, June1989 pp. 117-125